Crochet blanket size calculator

Pick a standard blanket size or enter your own, add your gauge and stitch repeat, and this calculator gives the starting chain, the stitches per row and the rows, allowing for a border you will add later. A table shows the same figures for every standard size at your gauge, and a weighed swatch adds the yarn and balls.

How to use the calculator

1. Choose a size, or custom to enter your own.
2. Enter the border width you will add afterwards on each side; it is taken off the body.
3. Enter your stitch and row gauge and the stitch repeat (1 and 0 for plain rows).
4. Choose the main stitch, for the turning chain.
5. Optionally, enter a weighed swatch and your yarn label to estimate the yarn for every size.

Standard sizes

They are common finished sizes. For a bed, check them against your mattress and how far you want the blanket to hang.

How the calculator works

The border is taken off each side, then the body is turned into stitches and rows:

Body width = width − 2 × border, and the same for the length.

Stitches = body width × stitch gauge, rounded to the stitch repeat

Rows = body length × row gauge

The starting chain adds the turning chain for your stitch: 1 extra chain for single crochet, 2 for half double and double crochet, 3 for treble. The finished width is the stitches divided by your gauge, plus the border.

With a weighed swatch, the yarn is the blanket's area in swatches times the swatch weight, plus 10%, turned into length with your label:

Yarn = (blanket area ÷ swatch area) × swatch weight × 1.1 × (ball length ÷ ball weight)

Reading your results

• Chains to make, stitches per row and rows before the border: ready to start.
• Finished width: after rounding to the repeat, including the border.
• Yarn with 10% extra: in both units, with the balls to buy, when the swatch fields are filled in.
• Every standard size table: chains, rows and balls for all 14 sizes at your gauge, so you can compare.

Worked example

A 50 × 60 in throw in single crochet with a 2 in border. The gauge is 14 stitches and 16 rows per 4 in, the stitch repeat 4 plus 2.

• Body: 46 × 56 in.
• Stitches: 46 × 3.5 = 161, rounded to the repeat: 162 (40 repeats of 4 plus 2).
• Chains: 162 + 1 = 163. Rows: 56 × 4 = 224.
• Finished width: 162 ÷ 3.5 = 46.29 in, plus 4 in of border: 50.29 in.
• Yarn: a 6 × 6 in swatch weighing 20 g, with 220 yd per 100 g, gives 4,033 yd with 10% extra: 19 balls.

Accuracy and limits

• Stitches, chains and rows are exact arithmetic, covered by our automated tests. The yarn depends on your swatch.
• The yarn estimate covers the whole blanket area, border included, with a fixed 10% extra. For your own margin, use the yarn yardage calculator.
• Large, heavy blankets can stretch in length under their own weight; hang your swatch for a while before measuring rows for a bed blanket.
• Corner-to-corner, centre-out and granny-square blankets grow differently. Use the C2C, continuous granny square or granny square blanket calculators.

Common mistakes

1. Forgetting the border. A 2 in border makes the blanket 4 in wider and longer.
2. Measuring too close to the chain. The first rows pull in or flare; measure your width several rows up.
3. Using a swatch in another stitch. Gauge and yarn both depend on the stitch.

Tips for more accurate results

• Chain with a hook 0.5 mm larger, or use a chainless foundation, so the bottom edge is not tighter than the rest.
• Plan the border's stitches with the border stitch calculator.
• For a stitch pattern with a repeat, the foundation chain calculator shows narrower and wider options too.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides and tools

• Make your first double crochet blanket